Record number of parents banking on stem cell therapy

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BioEden, a specialist tooth stem cell biobank, has reported a record number of parents getting in touch to find out more about biobanking and storing their childrens's dental stem cells, in case their children require the stem cells for treatment sometime in the future.

There are numerous banks for cord blood stem cells as well as dental ones, like BioEden, where parents have the opportunity to store their children’s stem cells in hope that they could potentially be useful for their children’s or relative’s health without requiring invasive treatments such as bone marrow extraction.

Owing to associated costs of tooth cell processing, biobanking is currently not accessible to all parents. Tony Veverka, CEO of BioEden, previously commented that they are working towards ensuring that “everyone has the means to bank their children's stem cells, and by making our service affordable we believe we have done just that. Everyone has the right to have the best in healthcare and we are proud of the service we provide.”

At present these cells could be used for hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells transplants, but their use in other cell therapies remains to be seen. It is important that any banking initiative is sharing cells for research purposes to gather sufficient information on processes such as reprogramming for cell therapy use to reach its full potential.